Companies fail to comply with new gender rule
Mr Charles Nyachae, the chairman of the Commission on Implementation of the Constitution (CIC). Photo/FILE
What you need to know:
- The new Constitution stipulates one gender should not hold more than two-thirds of appointments or elective posts in a public office.
- Only three out of 45 listed companies that were surveyed have conformed to the one-third gender rule requirement, signifying a 6.7 percentage compliance.
- Mr Richard Kemoli, former chairman of Bamburi Cement, said that as much as companies would wish to conform to the directive, implementation will take longer in order to be successfully executed.
Getting companies adhere to the one third gender rule promises to be a daunting task for the Capital Markets Authority as it moves to implement the latest leadership guidelines.
A quick survey by Daily Nation of the board of directors in public companies reveals appalling gender inequality, with a sizable percentage lacking female representation in the top management.
Only three out of 45 listed companies that were surveyed have conformed to the one-third gender rule requirement, signifying a 6.7 percentage compliance.
The data was collected from institutions trading at the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
The new Constitution stipulates one gender should not hold more than two-thirds of appointments or elective posts in a public office.
During a consultative forum that was held by Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution (CIC) in Nairobi, its chairman Charles Nyachae said that the law did not necessarily mean that women should only be subjected to a maximum of one-third of the appointments.
“It is unfortunate that this rule has been misconstrued. Some of us think that the requirement is that the two thirds of appointments shall be men and one third reserved for women.
"In any event, we have public offices where women hold less than one third positions. What are we doing to ensure that women meet and surpass one third in the offices?” he asked.
Contradictory
Mr Richard Kemoli, former chairman of Bamburi Cement, said that as much as companies would wish to conform to the directive, implementation will take longer in order to be successfully executed.
“If a company has existing contradictory arrangements, the memorandum of association will have to be rectified in order to fit with the authority’s requirements. And that does not take a day,” he said.
Speaking to Daily Nation on the phone, Kenya Institute of Management board of fellows’ chairman Peter Muthoka said that gender criteria should be observed but not at the behest of other requirements.
“Gender is not the only criteria when it comes to defending the interests of the shareholders. We should not forget the basic and important factors for the board,” he said.
Mr Muthoka listed skills and expertise in a particular field, high integrity, availability of the member and also diversification in terms of ethnicity and gender.
“The board should reflect the society in the country and our respective composition. I believe women have the above qualifications and I see no reason why companies should not adopt that,” he added.
